IF YOU SEE YOURSELF, SAY AMEN
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Yet embattled minorities do need to know they’re not alone; do need to declare who they are and what they believe. Call it self-affirmation or solidarity, but there’s something to be said for entertainment that preaches to the converted, rallies the troops, and tries to reclaim a buried history (or herstory). In that spirit, If You See Yourself, Say Amen also wants to expand the conventional notion of love to fit all lovers.
A presentation in Bailiwick Repertory’s ongoing gay- and lesbian-oriented Pride Performance Series, If You See Yourself, Say Amen is billed as “a spiritual program of performance poetry and music.” Written by Jera Ing-Odin and performed by Anna Brown, Jamika Ajalon, and the author, it consists of six loosely related performance pieces that deal with lesbian love, its universals and specifics, its ups and downs, and the changes it inspires in those who know it.
More often than it despairs, though, If You See Yourself repetitiously rhapsodizes. Delivered matter-of-factly by the author, “Sencera” celebrates one woman’s gratitude to a memorable lover who gave her back herself by being so completely herself. Brown and Ajalon behind her act out the poem literally, dancing to their own music.
If You See Yourself, Say Amen ignores an old paradox: that the more precisely you describe a character, the more connections you make between that person and the rest of the world. This show needs dramatic empowerment.
